Unions require the leverage of work stoppage causing production blockage, but this doesn't work when the employer can pick up shop and move to cheaper labor. Combine this with the lack of import tariffs and there is no leverage for a labor union to wield. For unions to work now, you'd have to have the workers of the world unite, which was a Socialist rallying call if I remember my history. We all know what Americans think of Socialism, especially the sneering libertarians found in IT departments.

Unions will not work now like they did 100 years ago, at least not in the USA while there is such great disparity between here and there. Something that may or may not comfort you is that _everything_ in the U.S. will have to level down, including labor costs/wages, rents/returns, property values, profits -- it's called deflation and it's unavoidable.

Why not a security compiler? Seems some clever, creative hackers could work up something which would take raw code, subject it to some scrutiny and give output/feedback. Perhaps even a security switch to the standard compilers or even a security test suite. Shouldn't be that hard to do.

It should be clear by now that having anything less than complete transparency for these agencies is foolish, because we become the target of the tools when they are used in secret silence. Elected representatives are worthless in this regard. We need transparency via reporting requirements and guidelines that give full information to the public.

If we are expected to be responsible for what these agencies do, then we need to know what they are doing.

But, but...what about the poor baby profits?

Seriously, you won't see these corporations do anything like this until they are forced to do so with heavy regulations, potential heavy fines and the real possibility of criminal prosecution upon proof of criminal negligence by a prosecuting attorney.

MBA school teaches them this: costs equal profits taken out of your pocket, so anything you can do to put the costs anywhere else is the profit in your pocket. This is how they think and how they operate. This is why you don't want business running and maintaining your infrastructure.

Where else would be more appropriate? A glance out the window, then back to the bears and spriggans.

Rumor has it they'll be upgrading to the 2.2 kernel series before too long.

I jest, I jest -- jeezus! Debian folks have no self-deprecating sense of humor.

Now George is a painter, Condi is on the board, Dick -- well, Dick is still a dick. So, are we supposed to forget or what? And forgive? Hard to do when we're still payin' the bills.

...requires foundations laid down in the 5th and 6th grade of school, mostly math, but also the interest and desire to learn. Some people get it, some don't get it. So it's more accurate to say that some coal miners may be able to learn to code: Watch out for those blanket generalizations, they bite back.

Teletype - punched paper tapes. You think you're old? I'm so old I've become an anachronism.

Now we know what happens to old, un-supported commercial software: It morphs into extortion-ware.